Arts, Briefly; Moving to Warner Books

By EDWARD WYATT; Compiled by Lawrence Van Gelder

Published: July 22, 2005

Jonathan Karp, below, who resigned suddenly last month as editor in chief of Random House Inc.'s flagship imprint, has been named publisher and editor in chief of a new imprint for Warner Books. The imprint, to be called Warner Twelve, will publish one book a month, far fewer than most major publishing divisions but in line with the output of some specialty publishers. Mr. Karp said that he would personally edit each book and that he would report to Jamie Raab, the publisher of Warner Books. ''I want to be able to assure readers that each book matters,'' Mr. Karp said in a statement. ''And by publishing no more than one book per month, I'll also be able to assure authors and literary agents that each of our books will have a clear shot at reaching its audience.'' EDWARD WYATT